Double Take: A Tale of Two Similar Individuals
by erikapepsii
Summary: Harry thought he was all alone with the destiny of taking on Voldemort, but one moment in Dumbledore's office changed everything when someone Harry never imagined existed came into the picture. Someone who shared the exact same fate, and the same birthday
1. Across the Nations

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter... but i wish i did;)**_

_**Somewhere in America:**_

A boy tossed and turned in his sleep from a horrible nightmare. He fell to the floor and woke up immediately.

"I wish this would stop. I don't ever get any sleep anymore." He whispered angrily. He got up and flipped on his desk light and turned on the radio.

"Well, no use in trying to sleep now...I'm too wide awake for that... those nightmares are getting a little ridiculous." He thought, throwing himself into his desk chair. The song that was on the radio fit his life perfectly, Simple Plan- I'm just a kid. Hal Anderson's life really was a nightmare... he had to live with his psycho uncle in Alabama, U.S.A., who wouldn't let him do anything. He just wished something exciting would happen to him, some crazy adventure, but he had already given up hope on that. The only place he ever was allowed to go to was school, The American Academy of Magic. Even during the summer, His uncle and aunt kept him at home at all times. The only cool thing he did was practice spells with his Intermediate Guide to Wizardry. He had gotten pretty good at everything in that book, and he was ready to move on.

Hal was so deep in thought deep about how wrong his life was that when he heard a tapping on the window, he jumped up and nearly knocked his chair over. There was an owl outside the window, holding an envelope on some sort. Hal quietly opened the window and took the letter from the owl carefully. The envelope was made of old-looking parchment, and so was the letter itself. Hall read the letter in haste, seeing as this was the most exciting that had ever happened to him.

_**Dear Mr. Anderson**_

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Normally we send these letters to young witches and wizards who are around the age of 11, but circumstances, which will be explained to you when you arrive here, have delayed our decisions. You will be starting school at Hogwarts on the fifth level of training, and we have enclosed a book list with this letter. We will be sending Professor Albus Dumbledore to retrieve you from you home in the United States, and then you will be coming to our location in Great Britain. Have your possessions packed and ready to go by 11:00 p.m. on August 16th. Also, we have some information that we would like to share with you and a student of ours, so you and this student will be arriving a day earlier than the other students. Do not worry about buying anything for your trip or school. Professor Dumbledore will take care of that when you arrive in London.

Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall  
Deputy Headmistress of  
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

P.S: Do not tell you uncle of aunt about this letter. Professor Dumbledore will take care of that before your departure as well. 

Hal had to read the letter over about 5 or six times to actually let it sink in. Hadn't he just wished for an adventure? Well, he hoped this letter was for real, because if it was then he got what he wished for. He only had two days to pack all his stuff and be gone, and he would be out of there, at least fore a little while...

Little did he know that a similar happening was occurring at the same time miles away...

_**

* * *

Somewhere in England: **_

A boy sat up at midnight, and pondered on his usual nightmare. It was always the same, a bloody battle and him on the losing side. But this time, it was a little different. He was not on the losing side because someone was helping him fight. The person looked an awful lot like himself, but this were always a little blurry in his dreams. He thought it might be his father, who had died 14 years earlier, but who knows with a mind like his.

Harry looked down at the foot of his bed and saw a letter with a familiar crest on it. The crest of his home. He opened it up and read its contents with tired eyes.

"Harry, what are you doing up?" Harry's roommate whispered tiredly. "Another nightmare?"

"Yeah, but this time it was different. I was actually winning. Someone was helping me, someone who looked like me. I guess it was my dad or something." Harry answered.

"Well, at least you had some help this time." Ron said with a slight laugh. Ron had gotten used to hearing about Harry's dreams, and something new was just what his nightmare stories needed.

"Yeah, and I've got to start packing, because of that letter I got while I was asleep. It said that Dumbledore had some information that he needed to tell me before everyone arrived at Hogwarts. So, I have like two days to pack... I'm not going back to sleep anyway, so I might as well just start. Too wide awake to go back to sleep." Harry sighed as he put his glasses on. He was about to say something else to Ron, but he had already gone back to sleep. He had already even started drooling out the side of his mouth and he was snoring. Harry laughed, then started packing stuff in his school trunk.

Harry wondered what information Dumbledore could possibly give him. The Order of the Phoenix had not been very helpful in disclosing any news about Voldemort anyways, so why have me arrive early to school? Not that he minded getting out of Grimmauld Place a day earlier. He couldn't stand the place any longer._" Just two more days" _Harry thought to himself as he packed his school books in the bottom of his trunk. He did so slowly, thinking that the slower he went the more that it would keep him busy. His thoughts of his meeting with Dumbledore were still in the back of his mind, though. He pondered on it the whole time he was packing. Even though Harry went as slow as possible, it only took him about 2 hours to pack his trunk. Harry laid back down on his cot, and pretty much thought himself to sleep around 4 a.m., off into another nightmare

* * *

Two days passed like waiting for Christmas for Hal. He had some of his stuff packed, but he still wasn't sure if this Professor Whats-his-face was really going to come. He did not know how his uncle and aunt were going to react, but no matter what, he was going to this school. They were not holding him back from one more opportunity, like all the others he missed. 

Hal walked downstairs and dragged all this stuff with him. If this guy came to the front door, he wanted to be able to hear it first. He went ahead and packed the rest of his stuff. Just in case an argument broke out and he did not have time to pack it.

Hal watched the time wither away until it was 10:59 p.m. A nervous, sick, but hopeful feeling fell into the pit of his stomach. He might just be one minute from his long awaited adventure. He hoped more now than ever that that letter was a real letter, not just a prank.

Hal turned around and looked out the window. He saw street lights popping off and zooming toward his front door. Just as he went to go for the door, He heard the sound that would change his life forever.

_Knock, Knock, Knock_

Hal looked through the small window on the door. A thin, tall man in some sort of silver dress thing was standing outside the door. He had never seen someone like this, but he had heard of them from things he had read in the books his family had given him. Hal slowly opened the door. His mouth open to talk but nothing would come out.

"Might I come in?" said the man, whose smile somehow warmed Hal's heart.

"S-s-sure. Are you--" Hal stuttered, but was politely interrupted.

"Albus Dumbledore, yes, that's me. And you must be Hal. So sorry to be so quick, but we are really in a hurry. Could you point me in the direction of your uncle's bedroom? I must explain to them where you will be going. It would be very odd to wake up and you not be here, wouldn't it? That is if you want to go, but I must advise you, it would be wise if you would come." Professor Dumbledore said.

"Well, of course I will be going. Their room is down that hall, 2nd door to the right." Hal said quickly. He ran up to his room to make one last scan.

Hal expected to hear a lot of yelling and something break or something like that, but strangely nothing like that happened at all. Dumbledore walked out of the room just as calmly as he had entered, smiling as he headed for the door.

"Sir, how did you do that? I would get yelled at just for even thinking about walking in there at 11 o'clock at night." Hal asked, astonished.

"Oh, I just put a simple memory charm on them. All they think is that they let you go to school in a peaceful, rational way, like it should be. You do have all your belongings together, correct?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes, sir. It's in the living room." Hal said.

"Very well, then. Make sure you hold everything tight. We will be apparating to London, then we will gather your supplies for school. Brace yourself, because the first time apparating will be an experience." Dumbledore explained

Sure enough, it was an experience. Hal felt as if all his surroundings were closing in on him. Sickness began to well in his stomach. Just as Hal was sure he was going to pass out, everything came back into focus. He stumbled as he tried to get his balance, but caught himself before he fell. Hal instantly hated apparating, but, he did think it was a very quick method of travel. Just something he would have to get used to.

They gathered all that Hal would need for school, in very good time. Hal wanted to stay longer, he loved the homey feeling that the place called Diagon Alley possessed, but Professor Dumbledore seemed anxious to get back to the school. Hal did manage to stay in the quidditch shop for a while, though. In Alabama, Hal had managed to put a type of shield over his back yard that looked just like the plants and shrubs that his aunt had planted. Under that shield, Hal spent a lot of time practicing his quidditch skills. He had gotten pretty good in his opinion. He might have a chance to put his skills to the test at Hogwarts.

Professor Dumbledore and Hal arrived in front of an immaculate castle around 2 o'clock a.m. As soon as Hal got sorted into a house, which Hal didn't know what that was for, and was shown to a dormitory, he went straight to bed. Hal was so delighted to be out of his crazy home in Alabama, that no nightmares haunted him that night, just peaceful dreams of his new surroundings and quidditch.

* * *

Harry Potter woke up on August 16th, and smiled for what seemed like the first time in weeks. He was finally getting to go back to Hogwarts, getting to go back home after what seem like the longest, hardest summer of his life. Even though he felt bad leaving the others behind, he was still happy to get out of the dreadful Grimmauld Place. Harry made sure he had all of his clothes and his school supplies packed. He also made sure he tucked his invisibility cloak and the marauders map deep in the bottom of his trunk to insure their safety.

Downstairs, Mrs. Weasley had a special breakfast cooked for all the tenants of Grimmauld Place. All of Harry's favorites were set on the table just as Harry walked in the dining room.

"Morning, Harry." murmured the crowd of people already sitting at the table. They all seemed tired, but who wasn't tired after sleeping on the lumpy cots that everyone had to sleep on?

Harry thoroughly enjoyed his breakfast, taking seconds on almost everything in front of him. He felt as if he couldn't move after eating so much, but he wanted to make sure to enjoy the last breakfast of Mrs. Weasley's that he would have for a while.

Harry began to pull all of his school stuff downstairs around 9:30 a.m. His letter specified that he was to arrive in the Gryffindor common room at 10:00 o'clock sharp, but he might as well just start to leave know, because saying goodbye to everyone would take a long time.

"Did you make sure you had everything, dear? all your supplies? your clothes?" Mrs. Weasley said frantically, examining Harry's pile of thins, neatly arranged to fit in the fireplace. He would be traveling by floo powder, seeing as he didn't want to apparate. He detested apparating.

After saying his goodbyes to everyone, and checked his luggage over for what seem like the hundredth time, Harry stepped into the fireplace and took a handful of the grayish powder. Harry firmly said Hogwarts and dropped the powder. Green flames surrounded his body, and he spun out of sight.

Harry landed on the familiar carpet of the cozy Gryffindor common room. He got up and dusted himself off and set his luggage off to the side. A piece of parchment was sitting on one of the tables beside the comfy armchairs. Harry took a seat as he read what it stated.

**Mr. Potter, **

_Welcome back to Hogwarts. After you have read this, report to Professor Dumbledore's office. Just leave you things in the common room. A house elf will take them up to you room while you are in the meeting. The password for the gargoyle is licorice wand._

**Professor McGonagall**

Harry wondered the whole walk to Dumbledore's office. Something really important must have happened, but what……

_**

* * *

Meanwhile…….**_

Hal got up around 8 o'clock. He went down for breakfast, but couldn't eat much. He was too nervous about the meeting that he was about to experience. Whatever the meeting was about had to be very important, why else would he have to go half-way around the world to go to a wizarding school. Hal was to report to Dumbledore's office at 9:45, and with each minute leading up to that time was more nerve-racking than the last.

Hal arrived right on time. Dumbledore pointed to the oversized chair in front of his desk, and Hal quickly took his seat.

"Did you sleep well, Mr. Anderson?" Dumbledore asked, smiling slightly.

"Yes, sir. Better than I ever have" Hal said.

"Splendid. The other student will be here momentarily. I should warn you that what I am about to reveal to you might be quite a shock. But I ask you to please keep as calm as possible, but I do understand if you don't. If you are anything like the other student, though, you will probably be very surprised." Dumbledore said with a slight laugh.

"Who is this other person, sir?" Hal asked in wonder.

"Oh, you will find out soon enough………"


	2. Identical

Harry approached the stone gargoyle and said the password from Professor McGonagall's note. The Gargoyle jumped out of the way, and Harry stepped onto the revolving staircase. When he got to the top, Harry reached out for the gold doorknocker. But before he could touch it, he heard the familiar voice that he had grown accustomed to.

"Come in, Harry." said the voice on the other side of the door- Professor Dumbledore's voice. He already felt more at home in 15 minutes that ever before, except maybe at the Weasley House.

Harry entered the room, all of the interesting objects emitting little puffs of smoke and steam and little whistle noises from all directions. He saw someone else in the room, but he couldn't see their face because the chair was facing the left side of the room. There was another chair facing the right side of the room that Harry understood as his chair.

"It's so good to see you, Harry. Won't you take a seat?" Professor Dumbledore said, moving his hand in the direction of the chair. Harry sat down in the chair, his heart racing with nervousness. He felt as if his heart was going to jump out of his chest.

"Well, I'm going to get straight to the point. When I turn these chairs around, both of your lives will change forever, because the person sitting in front of you will be most helpful to you in the future. I ask you to please keep as calm as you can, but I fear that it might not work. I will now turn the chairs." Dumbledore said.

With the turn of those chairs, everything would literally change forever……….

* * *

"BLOODY HELL, PROFESSOR!!!!! WHO IS THAT?????" Hal exclaimed, obviously overwhelmed. He had oddly jumped out of his chair, ran around it, and sat down in about 5 seconds. He has the most shocked look on his face, and he kept glancing back and forth from Harry to Professor Dumbledore.

Harry didn't overreact at all. He just put his head in his hands and sighed deeply. Things like this just kept happening to him. He had learned not to freak out, but he was still in a state of shock. He looked up at Professor Dumbledore after about a minute. He had to ask.

"Why didn't you tell me about this earlier? Things might have been a lot easier on me if he would have been with me. Why didn't you tell me I had a brother, especially a twin brother??? WHY??" Harry shouted. The more he thought about it, the more frustrated and angry he got. Why did everything have to be so secretive? He had a brother. Things would have been different with him around, not just might.

"Harry, I didn't tell you about Hal because we wanted to keep him safe from all of this madness. Voldemort didn't know about Hal, the only thing he knew about was you. You wouldn't want to put someone in the same situation that you are in, would you?" Dumbledore said in the most peaceful tone he could.

"Well, no, but why tell me now? If Hal was safe away from here, then why bring him here?" Harry questioned, this made no sense to him at all. Maybe his mind was still fuzzy with shock.

"Somehow, Lord Voldemort has gotten word of Hal's existence, and there is no one in America to protect him other there. Plus, we didn't want to keep this from you or Hal any longer, with the uprising war and everything." Dumbledore answered.

"Wait a minute!!!" Hal said, seizing the opportunity of the small silence. "You are going to have to back up and explain some things to me. First of all, where are our parents?" Hal asked, trying desperately to find some answers. All this back and forth between the others in the room was driving him crazy. None of this conversation made any sense from the beginning, and confusion was welling up with every passing second.

"I hate to tell you this, but your parents were murdered by a person called Lord Voldemort when you and Harry were one year old. Lord Voldemort had been plotting forming his own "wizard-turned bad" army to receive somewhat of a title of the most powerful wizard in the world. His plan backfired when he stormed into the Potter's house that night. Voldemort used the killing curse on your father first, then on your mother. Harry would have died that night too if it hadn't been for you mother. When she died, she left all of her love to protect Harry from peril. As you see, it worked. When Voldemort used the curse on Harry, it sort of ricocheted off of Harry and hit himself. He didn't get the full dose of the curse, but it was enough for Voldemort to be called defeated. The only remnants of the attack remain in Harry, and possibly you. Some odd abilities that Harry possesses are there because some of Voldemort's powers were transferred to him through that scar on his forehead." Dumbledore explained.

Hal was still overwhelmed, but not so much that he couldn't ask more questions.

"Where was I when all this happened?" Hal asked quickly.

"One of your parent's friends, Remus Lupin, had taken you to a quidditch match that night. Harry didn't go with you because your parents couldn't afford to send both of you. By what Remus told me, you seemed more eager to go to the match than Harry did, so that's why you ended up going." Dumbledore said.

"Then, how come he's got a scar?" Harry asked in the middle of all the explaining.

"Some twins have an uncanny ability of a type of telepathy. The Weasley twins are a prime example as you know, Harry. Things have happened in the past that when something significantly horrible happened to one twin and they obtained a substantial cut, they transfer some of the pain and effect to the other twin. I think that's what happened here. When Voldemort's curse hit Harry and made the cut, he transferred the pain to you, Hal, and it left the cut. You were still at the quidditch match when it happened, Hal. Mr. Lupin told me that when he saw the cut on you head, he thought you had fallen and bumped you head on something sharp. He realized he was mistaken when he found out what happened." Dumbledore explained.

There was an odd silence, seeing as both boys were stunned to hear about their connection was so strong. They just sat there, mulling over the information that they just heard. Harry had given up on saying anything else. He was afraid of any more surprising information left unsaid, fearing that he might faint. But Dumbledore had more to say.

"I apologize to both of you for keeping you apart for so long, but we wanted to keep Hal away from all the madness, seeing as you, Harry, had no choice but to be right in the middle. But now that Voldemort knows about you now, Hal, there was nothing else that we could do but to tell you who you really were. The whole magical world thought that Harry had defeated Voldemort that night, but we found out differently during Harry's first year at Hogwarts. His soul still remained, but he had no body. Last year, Voldemort got a new body at the expense of another student's life and some of Harry's blood. Now, he seeks revenge. Voldemort will be coming after you both now, so you both have to be prepared to defend yourselves. Of course, The Order of the Phoenix will always be here to protect both of you, but you have to always be prepared. Harry has been through a lot difficult encounters with Lord Voldemort and has had a lot of close calls, but he has been triumphant. The same trials seems evident to you also, Ha--" Professor Dumbledore said, but was interrupted by Harry jumping out of his seat.

"NO!!! THIS IS MY BURDEN!! NOBODY DESERVES WHAT I'VE HAD TO GO THROUGH, AND I WON'T LET SOMEONE ESLE GO THROUGH THE SAME!!! ESPECIALLY MY OWN BROTHER!" Harry shouted, breathing deeply, and then collapsing with grief back into his chair. He put his head back into his hands, as a single tear fell to the floor. The stress of his summer and the rest of his past seemed to come rushing back to him like a hurricane. He just wished that it would all go away, but he knew it wouldn't.

Hal was amazed at how someone he barely knew could be so protective over someone. It felt good to know that he was loved by someone, but the situation he was in did scare him. What kind of stuff was going to happen to him, and what kind of stuff had already happened to Harry? He would have to wait to find out, but he was willing to do whatever he needed to do to help Harry defeat this Voldemort guy. He knew a lot of things about self defense….. maybe that would help them in whatever kind of war was going on…

"Harry, whatever it is you need me to do, I'll do it." Hal said, breaking the silence. "Anything to help you, and I guess me, beat this guy."

"You don't know what you getting yourself into." Harry said, quietly.

"I was in it when it started, I just didn't know it. But now I do, so there is no getting out if it, not that I was going to run even if I had the option. There's no getting rid of me now." Hal said, quite confident in his decision.

"Harry, I know you don't want someone to have to share you heartache, which is completely noble of you, but Hal is in the same situation as you now. You wouldn't want to encounter an attack from Voldemort or a death eater and not know anything about either one of them, would you? You have to teach Hal the things about those battles that I can't. You know better than I what it's like to be a teenager facing one of the most powerful, most evil wizards in the world, and live to tell about it. He needs you, and now you need him." Dumbledore said.

"All right, I guess I would like some more help. Ron and Hermione will be happy." Harry said, laughing slightly.

"Oh, that reminds me Harry, you need to write The Weasleys a letter explaining the details of this meeting. Don't go into great detail. You'll get to explain more when the others arrive. Just tell them about Hal, you know, the stuff you think they would like to know. Harry, I trust you know where you and Hal will be staying. I've already shown him the dormitory. Why don't you find some way to get to know each other better, maybe go down to the quidditch pitch later. And thank you for being so cooperative. You two are dismissed." Professor Dumbledore said. He smiled at them both as if he were reminiscing about something. It was different to Dumbledore seeing the both of them together again after so long, but he was delighted. This is exactly what Harry needed, even though he didn't want to admit it.

* * *

The walk back to the common room was a little awkward, but not as much to be expected. They talked a little about how shocking everything was, but that was the extent of the conversation for a few minutes. Hal's mind was swelling with curiosity, everywhere he looked, portraits were moving about, greeting them as they passed. He also heard them saying things like "There's two of them now?" and "oh no, another troublemaker." Harry heard everything they were saying all this stuff the portraits were talking about, and seeing as he was still a little on edge, he kinda snapped.

"Let me get something clear so you can tell all the other portraits so they can get the memo. Yes, there are two of us. You'll find out his name in time, and no, there is not another troublemaker here because there wasn't one here in the first place. And we aren't deaf, we can hear all your rude and quite atrocious comments. Any other questions while I'm listening? Good. Since I've pretty much clarified your minds of all doubt or unbelief, we will be on our way in peace." Harry said in a stern voice, he made sure he got his point across. He hated all the gossip that went around Hogwarts when school was in, but having to endure it when hardly any students were there? Things were mad!

Hal nearly died out laughing, Harry had told them!, but he kept his composure. That curiosity kept gnawing at his insides; he couldn't wait any longer to ask. He had to figure some of this stuff out. He finally asked….

"Harry, who exactly is this Voldy- Lord guy you and the professor were talking about. I've pretty much figured out that he's your enemy and he's out to get us, but you beat him once, so what's so bad about him now?" Hal asked.

"Oh, well, _Voldemort_ has been really looking for revenge ever since I came here. During my first year, he would have probably lived forever if I hadn't obtained the sorcerer's stone from one of his followers. The stone had special powers to keep someone alive forever if he wanted, perfect if you wanted to rule the world. Second year, he tried to kill me through what I guess you would call a 16-year-old version of himself, but I got away again. I really didn't have an encounter with Voldemort my third year, but I met my godfather, well our godfather, who I will tell you about later (Harry was afraid of eavesdroppers). Last year is when Voldemort got his body back. He killed another student right in front of me, and he nearly got me again, but I got lucky again by using the right spell against him, and the help of the spirits of our parents. This year, who knows what will happen." Harry sighed, and looked down at the floor as they walked.

"Whoa, doesn't look like luck to me. Seems like your pretty good at defending yourself." Hal said with just a hint of amazement in his voice.

"Well, I couldn't have done it without help from Professor Dumbledore and my friends of course." Harry said, but really wanted to get off that subject. Too many memories. "So, do you play quidditch?"

The conversation welled up from there. When the got to the common room, they grabbed their quidditch gear and headed to the quidditch pitch. Hal flew over to the hoops, and traced one of the rings. He couldn't believe that he was on an actual quidditch pitch. He never thought anything like this would happen to him, but it was. This is what he wanted but he had already gotten so much more.

Harry was amazed at Hal's keeper skills. Harry started out really easy, barley lobbing the quaffle Hal's way, but he could tell Hal was getting bored. He kicked it up a notch, and another, and another until it was nearly dark. Hal hadn't missed one pass that came towards him. Hal was also amazed at Harry skills as a seeker. Harry had released the fastest snitch that the school had and closed his eyes to give it time to get hidden. Harry had caught the snitch in about 3 minutes time, but not before making one of the most astonishing dives Hal had ever seen. They stayed at the pitch until they could hardly see their hands in front of their faces. They would have stayed longer, but Harry remembered the letter he had to write. They gathered all the equipment and walked back to the common room, not wasting a moment in conversation.

Harry sat down in one of the chairs beside the fire, a piece of parchment and a quill in hand. Hal had bewitched his muggle CD player to work without batteries or a plug-in and put some kind of music on. Harry liked the lyrics to the song, it sounded like what he needed to do in his ongoing battle to live. _"__When all you got to keep is strong Move along, move along like I know you do, And even when your hope is gone, Move along, move along just to make it through, Move along, Move along." _Yeah, it pretty much outlined his life.

Harry tried to start on his letter, but he couldn't put his emotions into words. Everything he put down on the paper just didn't live up to the excitement of finding a long lost sibling. Then, he had an idea, the perfect way to tell the Weasleys what had happened. He got up quickly and ran upstairs. He came back with some powder and his shoes. Hal looked up from his daze and jumped up as well.

"Hey, where are you going?" Hal said, eyes open wide.

"I can't tell the Weasleys about you through a letter. Those people are my family, and this is not something you say in a letter. I'm going over to their house right now." Harry said quickly as he pulled on his shoes.

"How are you getting there?" Hal asked.

"With floo powder." Harry said, heading for the fireplace and extinguishing it super-fast. Then it hit him. "Well, you will have to come with me. That would make it loads more fun, surprising them. And you will get to meet everyone. Perfect. Oh, and do you know how to use floo powder?" Harry questioned.

"Umm, I think. Get into the fireplace, say where you want to go, and drop the powder, right?" Hal answered.

"Yeah, ok, were going to a place called Number 12, Grimmauld Place so just say that, make sure you say it clearly. Wait a few minutes before you come, that way it would be more surprising." Harry said, smiling at all the thoughts running through his mind. He stepped into the fireplace and shouted "Number 12, Grimmauld Place!" and with a bursting of green flames, he was off.

* * *

11:00 p.m.: Mrs. Weasley was in the living room, getting a head start on her Christmas knitting. Mr. Weasley was reading the Daily Prophet in his recliner. Everything was very peaceful, seeing as everyone was in their rooms, trying to go to sleep. Mr. Weasley was about to doze off when he heard a loud thud behind him, coming from the fireplace. He jumped up and pulled out his wand. Whoever it was jumped up as well and said calmly:

"Whoa, Mr. Weasley, hold on. It's just me, Harry. Sorry to scare you, I just had to tell you something." Harry whispered.

"Goodness, Harry! Nearly made me have a heart attack." Mrs. Weasley whispered rather loudly. "What is so important that you couldn't have told us in a letter?"

"Is everything all right, mum? The other's are coming down." said a voice from the other side of the room.

"Well, I don't know, Ginny dear. Harry's here. He has something to tell us something." Mr. Weasley said. Others began filling the room.

"Yeah, well, the reason Professor Dumbledore had me come a few days early to school was to introduce me to someone right? I just couldn't tell you this in a letter. It's too important. Well, I never knew that I had a ---." Harry said excitedly, but was interrupted by another loud thud.

"A BROTHER?" Ginny shouted, but when Hal walked into the light even more shouts erupted.

"A TWIN BROTHER? WHOA!" Ron yelled.

Everyone was excitedly asking questions, and talking about all kinds of stuff. Mrs. Weasley gave both boys one of her famous hugs, and so did Ginny. All the others exchanged a manly hug. With all this commotion, nobody even heard someone come into the house.

Hermione saw the person who she wanted to greet first. The messy hair gave it all away. She tapped the boy on the shoulder, and he turned around quickly.

"Hey, Har--. Wait, your not Harry. Who are you?" Hermione questioned, taking a step back.

"Whoa, Hermione, how could you tell that he wasn't Harry." Ron asked, astonished.

"He didn't even speak to you yet."

"What are you all talking about? Where's Harry? Who is this, his long lost twin brother?" Hermione said sarcastically.

"Actually, yeah." Harry said, as he walked up and stood beside Hal.

Hermione fainted right there, but quickly regained consciousness. Harry explained the whole situation to Hermione and all the others, and before they knew it, it was 1:00 a.m. They all said their goodbyes, and the boys headed back to the castle.


	3. Anxiousness, Angels, and Trees

Harry stayed by the fire in the common room for a while after he got back from his and Hal's exciting visit to the Weasley's house. Hal had long before went to bed .The feeling of happiness had been with Harry ever since he had the idea of the late night visit and it wasn't going to leave him any time soon if he could help it. Harry thought over the events of the day, smiling almost the whole time. Even though Hal had to suffer like he did now, Harry was happy to have someone else on his side. There really weren't many people on his side, seeing as everyone thought he was crazy since he announced Voldemort's return. Everything was all so frustrating, but it was a relief to had a little bit of good news. He loved times like this, a bit of peace.

Harry sat there for a long time, just thinking, until he realized it was 4:00 a.m. He wasn't much too worried about that, he didn't have anything much to do tomorrow anyway. He went upstairs and put on his pajamas. He glanced over at Hal's bed and laughed to himself. Hal was twitching and murmuring things in his sleep. He turned over, and over again, almost nonstop.

"I guess I do look crazy during a nightmare." Harry thought to himself, laughing, as he climbed into bed, and slipped into rare peaceful dreams.

Harry's eyes opened to no alarm clock that morning, but with the rays of sun peering through the slight opening in the scarlet curtains. He glanced over at Hal's bed and it was vacant . _"he's up pretty early." _Harry whisperedthen looked at his watch1:00 p.m.!!! "Definitely not early," Harry corrected himself. He got up quickly and by one thirty , he was at the Great Hall eating breakf---- I mean lunch. He had looked for Hal on the way down there and glanced over at the quidditch pitch, but he was nowhere to be seen. After he finished lunch, he set out looking again, but he didn't have to wait to long to figure it out.

"_**Harry, Professor Dumbledore told me to try this out. He said that some twins have the ability to talk to each other through concentrate on the other and what they want to say to them. Is it working? Can you hear me? Just concentrate on me and what you want to say." **_Harry heard Hal's voice say, but Hal was nowhere close to him. This was weird, but it was cool. He thought he'd give it a try.

"_Umm, yeah, I can hear you. This is pretty cool, isn't it?" _Harry thought.

"_**Yeah, it's awesome! Where are you, I'll come find you." **_Hal thought.

"I'm in front of the Great hall. Was that the only reason Dumbledore called you into his office?" Harry thought.

"_**No. He thought it best to change my last name back to what it truly is. I would be kind of weird with twins walking around with two different last names, wouldn't it" **_Hal thought.

Harry hadn't even thought about how the students were going to react to seeing two Potters, and he really didn't want to think about it. It would be weird two twins with different last names, and everyone else would think so too. This was going to be a nightmare. There was already a lot of staring and gossiping as it was, but now it was just going to get nasty, and you just can't tell off a bunch of students like he did the portraits. He had to tell Hal, forewarn him. This was going to get bad, really bad. He just hoped that Hal liked a lot of attention, but if he was anything like Harry, he wouldn't.

Hal came running down the Entrance Hall stairs with his and Harry's quidditch gear. Harry's frown turned quickly to a smile and they played quidditch until dark again. On the way back to the common room, all those thoughts about the reactions of other came flooding back to Harry's mind. He tried to put them off, seeing as they were having a really great time, but he couldn't put it off any longer, he had to tell Hal, get him prepared for all the gossip.

"Hal, I hope you know that a lot of people are going to be talking and staring at us for a while, don't you? I get it all the time, but it's probably going to get much worse. I hate to be so blunt, but that's really what's going to happen. Some people just don't know how, or just don't want, to keep their mouth's shut. It will die down eventually, but it will talk a little bit of time, people just have to get used to the fact that there are two of us now. It might even be in the news, but we will try not to attract that much attention. But I'm usually a target for a juicy tabloid story." Harry explained, grimacing at memories of Rita Skeeter invading his mind.

"Oh, I-I- I really don't like people staring. That really gives me the creeps. I get really nervous what people whisper and stare, but I guess I will just have to get used to it." Hal sighed. Then he said something totally off subject, possibly purposely. "You know people are going to be able to tell us apart."

Harry looked quizzically over at Hal and laughed. "How? We look just alike"

"Well, when we open our mouths, of course. You are going to have to teach me that accent." Hal laughed.

"No problem, I bet Hermione has the perfect solution for that one. It's probably in one of those books she's given me." Harry laughed. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

They went up to the common room, and sure enough, they found an accent spell in one of Hermione's books. They had permanent effect and you could use the accent any time you wanted. They tried them out and laughed at each other the whole time. They talked about ways to get out of trouble and how much fun it was going to be. Then they started to get bored and they walked around the castle. Harry showed Hal a lot of the shortcuts that he and his friends used a lot. Then they headed back to the common room and went to bed, seeing as it was about 1:00 a.m.

Harry woke up at about 7:30 that morning. Hal was still asleep, so Harry quietly got dressed and went down for some breakfast. After that, he decided to take a walk outside for a bit. He saw the tree that he, Ron and Hermione sat under a lot and smiled. He passed the Whomping will with caution. All his run-ins with that thing had made him that way. He was going to keep on walking, but then he saw something black run behind him. Harry turned around quickly and drew out his wand, but put it back in his pocket right away. It was the familiar black dog motioning him to the bushes. Harry followed as if he always went into the bushes, he didn't know if he was being watched.

"Sirius, What are you doing here?!" Harry whispered.

"Dumbledore told me that you had something that you probably wanted to tell me, so I came. It's so good to see you, Harry." Sirius said, giving Harry a hug.

"Well, He called me to school a couple days early as you know. That was to give me and this other person time to get to know each other, seeing as he's my twin brother." Harry said, smiling.

"Oh you've met Hal. I was wondering when you were going to get to meet him. I haven't seen him since he was a baby." Sirius said.

"Well, you pretty much know what he looks like. There is absolutely no way to tell us apart. We even have the same glasses. We found a spell as well that enables us to change our accents whenever we want, seeing as he was raised in America. It's pretty cool. Let me get him for you." Harry said.

"Oh no, you don't have to do that. It's too far to walk." Sirius said.

"It's really no problem. I can tell him to come down from right here. That's another thing about twins. We can talk to each other through our thoughts." Harry said, but was interrupted

"_**Harry, where are you? I've literally looked everywhere." **_Hal thought to Harry.

"Hold on, Sirius. He's trying to find us." Harry said to Sirius.

"_You know that tree I showed you yesterday, the one that moves? Just come down there. I've got someone I want you to meet." _Harry replied to Hal.

"He's coming down. He'll be here in a minute." Harry said to Sirius, who was just sitting there trying to listen to a conversation that he couldn't hear. After a few minutes, he just gave up. Then they heard footsteps.

"Hello, umm… why are we behind the bushes?" Hal questioned.

"I'll tell you in a minute. Hal, this is Sirius Black, my godfather. Oh, I forgot to ask. Are you his godfather too, Sirius?" Harry said.

"Well, no I'm not. I'm his god uncle. Remus is his godfather. But, it is very nice to see you Hal. I haven't seen you since the accident and all." Sirius said, giving Hal a fatherly hug.

"It's good to meet you, but I ask again, why are we in the bushes?" Hal questioned.

"Oh, well, I'm kind of a wanted man. But, I was falsely accused of the crime I was convicted of. I escaped from Azkaban 2 years ago, so I'm in hiding." Sirius replied.

""So how did you get here without being spotted?" Hal asked.

"He's an animagus. He can turn into the form of a dog. It's pretty cool." Harry replied.

"Really? That is cool." Hal quietly exclaimed

"Yeah, I hate to talk and run, I had better get going, I think I might have been spotted in Surrey and I think I'm being followed. This was the perfect diversion to get them off my trail, but I need to keep moving. I wish I could stay longer, but Dumbledore's exact words were, "Ask Harry about what he needs to tell you, Harry explains, limited chit-chat, then goodbye." So, I've kind of overstayed my time. I'll be back at Grimmauld Place in a few days. Write me if you two need me. See you both during the holidays. You are going with Harry over Christmas, right Hal?" Sirius asked.

"Yes, I'll be wherever he is." Hal replied, smiling. No one had ever wanted him over for a holiday before. It felt good.

"Alright, see you both then." Sirius said, smiling. He shrank into dog form, winked, and ran towards the gates exiting the castle. Hal turned to walk back up to the dormitories, but Harry didn't follow. He watched Sirius shrink into the distance until he was gone. He always wished that Sirius could stay longer, but he knew the danger that it took just for Sirius to visit just for a minute or two. He sighed and caught up with Hal. They stayed in the common room for a while. Hal played some of his CD's, and he had managed to shrink his muggle television and it also didn't need batteries of a plug. They watched movies and conjured up some popcorn.

Hal did all this, probably to keep his mind off of the thoughts of school starting tomorrow. He had an idea of what was coming, but he really didn't know what was really going to happen. Harry would probably think of something that would keep some of the gossip away, but certainly not all of it. But he pushed that last thought of anxiety, and enjoyed his last gossipless night.

The boys woke up from nightmares the next morning, nightmares of horrible taunting and endless whispering ringing loudly in their ears. Harry just pushed it into the back of his mind. He wasn't much too worried about it. Hal was a different story. He was so accustomed of being shunned and unnoticed that the idea of so much attention was overwhelming. Harry said it would probably get bad, especially with this group called the Slytherins who sounded awful but he didn't seem nervous about it. Why was he freaking out about this. It was so unlike him. _"Just calm down. Be cool. Harry said that some people would be cool, so it will be fine." _Hal whispered trying to reassure himself into peace. He pushed the disturbing thoughts out of his mind and got in the shower.

Harry had been up for quite a while. It was 10:00 a.m., and he had already been up for 4 hours. He just didn't feel like sleeping. He was busy thinking about how today would be. He was glad that school was starting that evening. He would get to see all the friends he had missed over the summer, especially with not even Ron or Hermione being allowed to write him a letter of the first half of the summer. Then, having to spend the second half of the summer in the gloomy Grimmauld Place, but at least he had his closest friends with him then. The other students were his biggest problem. Staring and criticism were going to be at and all time high with Hal being here, but he was used to it. Just another thing to go with "Crazy Harry Potter." Oh well, could it really get any worse? With his last year report of Voldemort returning and nobody believing him, which was probably the most broadcasted news he had stirred up, this would probably not be as bad. People would have to believe him this time, how could they not? Hal was actually standing before their eyes, unlike the Voldemort thing. Nobody saw Voldemort when he got his body back, but Hal was actually here. No one could change that, or twist the situation to make him look even crazier. It would all eventually die down. He was worried about Hal though. He seemed kind of nervous last night and he looked like he was having a nightmare when he woke up at 6:00 this morning, probably about the continuous ridicule that seemed evident in the near future. But Hal seemed strong, he had been through a lot with his family life, He just needed to relax.

Harry walked back up to the common room around 10:30 to get his Firebolt. He thought he'd go to the pitch and practice dives. Wasn't really much else he wanted to do. Hal was in the shower when Harry got to the dormitories. "I'm going down to the pitch; I'll be down there for a while, so come down if you want." Harry yelled so that Hal could hear him. "OK." Harry heard from the bathroom.

Harry walked slowly to the pitch. It was a really nice day outside. Perfect quidditch weather. He started to walk a little faster, he was anxious to get to the pitch now. He finally got there and mounted his Firebolt. He went as high as he felt comfortable and he started circling the pitch. Then he ventured off from the pitch and flew low over the lake. He looked out over the water and in the corner of his eye he saw something move. He turned his head and saw a blond girl sitting under one of the trees, flipping through the pages of a fairly thick book. "She looks awfully familiar. Whoever she is, she's beautiful." Harry thought to himself. As if she heard his thoughts, the girl looked up from her book and spotted him. Apparently startled, the girl jumped up and ran towards the castle. Harry thought it strange, his eyes still following the fleeing girl. Harry turned back to find himself a mere 3 feet from a large tree. But when he jerked his broom to miss that tree, he spun around too much and his head struck another one nearby. Harry lost his grip and slipped off the broom. He tried his best to grab his broom again, but it caught on a tree, totally out of reach. He plummeted to the ground with a hard thud. The last thing he remembered before he blacked out was seeing a last glance at the beautiful angel running away.

When Hal finished getting ready, it was already 3:00 p.m. He took his time, seeing as this day was important to him. He wanted to look his best. One advantage of people staring at you was that some of those people are girls, which was definitely a plus in Hal's book. He put his new wand in his robe pocket, the one that had appeared on his bed the first day he was here. It had a note attached, yellowed with age. It was written in beautiful handwriting, obviously a woman's. the note read:

_Dear Hal, _

_Your mother left this for you when she died. Use it in the best and worst of times._

That's all it said, but it warmed his heart. This was his mother's wand. Something that she had wanted him to have. He would treasure it forever.

He did feel strange though. Around 11:30, he felt a sharp pain in his head and then, a few seconds later, to the rest of his body. Then it just stopped. He had a slight head ache now. He thought about going to Madame Pomfry's office, but he just let it go. It was odd though.

Professor McGonagall had come to the dormitory and asked him to retrieve Harry because the other students were going to arrive soon. Harry was still probably at the quidditch pitch. He had seen him earlier from his window practicing an impressive dive. He knew Harry had told him that it was called something like a sloth dive or something like that. Then he saw him fly out toward the lake Harry had shown him the first day here. Hal really didn't feel like walking all the way out there. He thought he would try to think something to him.

"_**Harry? Where are you? Professor McGonagall said that the other students are going to be here soon."**_ Hal thought to Harry. No answer. _Maybe he just didn't hear me, _Hal thought, so he tried again.

"_**Harry? Harry? Where are you." **_Hal tried again. This time he heard a little of something. He heard a small moan. It sounded like someone was in pain. Then he heard a strained voice.

"_Hal?" _said a weak Harry, lying under a tree with blood on the side of his head, unable to move because the pain that struck his body when he tried to move. It felt like every bone in his body was broken. He didn't remember hurting this bad when he fell earlier, but now it was almost the worst pain he had felt, other than last year in the graveyard. How was he going to get back to the castle before he bled to death? The blood was just pouring from his head. He tried to think of a spell that would stop the bleeding but that wouldn't do any good because his wand had fallen out of his pocket and was 15 feet away. He tried summoning it but that didn't work either. He looked up and saw his Firebolt. It was stuck in the tree he had hit. That was about 30 feet above him

"_**Harry?!? Are you ok? Where are you? What's wrong?" **_Hal thought frantically.

"_Hit…tree...lake…can't…move." _Harry said in a strained whisper. He nearly passed out again but he kept his eyes open. He wasn't going to give up just like that.

"_**Ok, don't try to do anything, that will just make it worse. I'll be there in a second. Hold on."**_ Hal said quickly. He jumped up immediately and began running, running as fast as he could. This was just the perfect way for things to start on his first day at a new school. Awful pain and super injured brother. Harry was right; things were a little strange around here. He just hoped he could get to Harry in time to help him. He finally reached Dumbledore's office. Hal did not even knock before he entered.

"PROFESSOR!!! COME QUICK!! HARRY'S HURT. HE SAID SOMETHING ABOUT THE LAKE!!! HURRY!!!" Hal exclaimed as soon as he had entered the room. He looked about for just a second. Dumbledore had been talking to Professor McGonagall, but they were just looking at him with a shocked expression on their faces. Hal turned quickly and ran out the door. Dumbledore and McGonagall quickly followed.


	4. Broken Bones and Quidditch

"PROFESSOR!!! COME QUICK!! HARRY'S HURT. HE SAID SOMETHING ABOUT THE LAKE!!! HURRY!!!" Hal exclaimed as soon as he had entered the room. He looked about for just a second. Dumbledore had been talking to Professor McGonagall, but they were just looking at him with a shocked expression on their faces. Hal turned quickly and ran out the door. Dumbledore and McGonagall quickly followed.

Meanwhile….

Harry had remarkably regained some of his strength and train of thought, the result of an adrenaline rush. Harry tried hard to think of any thing that he might have learned that would stop bleeding . He had an idea that might work. He hoped it did. He knew the spell started with the "ep" sound. 'Epso….epsa…epsi..Oh yeah!! Episkey!! That's it!!' Harry thought to himself. Now to see if his plan would work.

"_Hal, I need you to try something." _Harry thought to Hal.

"_**Ok, what?" **_Hal replied.

"_If we can transfer thoughts and feelings, maybe we can do this. There is a spell called 'episkey'. It stops something from bleeding. Point the wand at your head and say the spell. Maybe it will stop my head from bleeding. I don't know if it will work but it won't hurt to try." _Harry sighed. He was getting weaker by the second, the adrenaline leaving him. He hoped with all his being that this would work.

"_**Ok. I hope this works." **_Hal said to Harry, then he tried the spell, keeping focused on Harry and running at the same time. _**"Episkey!." **_

Harry had heard Hal say the spell and he put his hand to his head, ignoring the awful pain. 'No wound!! We did it!! Wow, that would come in handy later' Harry thought to himself. He was so happy the had a better chance of living that he forgot to tell Hal if the spell had worked or not.

"_**Earth to Harry?? Did it work?"**_ Hal asked anxiously.

"_Yeah, it did!!!" _Harry exclaimed.

Hal jumped up and yelled shouts of joy, but he kept on running as fast as he was before. Harry was still hurt, but he was just in less jeopardy. They finally reached Harry, but they were too afraid to move him. They levitated him to the hospital wing carefully, making sure not to make his condition any worse. Madame Pomfry was appalled at Harry's injuries, which were a broken arm, 3 broken fingers, a broken arm, 4 broken ribs, a punctured appendix, and a major contusion. She got the all healed up very quickly, seeing as nobody wanted Hal to go to the feast alone, and Harry didn't want to miss out on seeing all his friends again. The boys stayed in the hospital for about an hour after all his wounds were healed, then Harry was free to go. But he would have to make a trip to the infirmary every 5 hours, seeing as the pain from a lot of his injuries still lingered. They walked up to the common room to finish getting ready then waited for 8:00 to roll around.

When 8:00 arrived, Harry and Hal started making their way down to the Great Hall. Harry had finished telling Hal all that he knew to try to reassure that everything was going to be ok. Hal had finally calmed down and was thinking in more of a positive direction. They made it down to the Great Hall entrance and looked for flaming red hair, the most obvious thing to look for. Curious eyes were already looking their way and they had only been in the room for a few minutes. Finally they saw Ron's head towering over the crowd. They pushed their way through the endless mob of students to greet him.

"Hey Ron, wait up!" Harry said. Ron turned his head and looked down, seeing as he was about 6 inches taller than the average height of the others, but he quickly spotted his best friend.

"Oh, Hello Harry, Hal. Good to see you again, mates. Hermione's already saved all of us some seats." Ron said with a wide smile on his face. He was obviously thinking about Hermione. He always got that look on his face when he thought about her.

They soon caught up to Ginny, Fred, and George and they all walked together to where Hermione was sitting. Harry and Hal sat on opposite sides of the table so people from both sides might only see one of them at a time. Conversation welled up, mostly about quidditch or asking Hal questions, Then, Dumbledore called for silence. Harry and Hal prayed that he wouldn't mention them in his welcoming speech.

"May I have your attention please? First off, I want to welcome all the new first years to Hogwarts, and to all the other students, Welcome back. Our caretaker, Mr. Filch, has asked me to announce that all the products that are distributed by Fred of George Weasley are strictly prohibited and there is a list on each Common Room bulletin board of all the other banned items. The Forbidden Forest and the Third floor corridor is off limits to all students. If there are any questions on any matter pertaining to these announcements or anything else, feel free to ask a professor or another student. Well, enough talk, tuck in!" Professor Dumbledore said as all the plates and utensils and food appeared on the table. Hal was astonished, he had never seen anything like it. They all enjoyed the feast, talking and eating the delicious food. Then someone came up in attempt to ruin all the fun.

"Hello Potter, sitting with the mublood and the blood traitors again I see." sneered Draco Malfoy from across the table. He thought he was talking to Harry, but it was really Hal. He looked at Harry and realized that this was the Malfoy person Harry had told him about. Hal thought up a comeback quickly and used the accent.

"Why don't you join us? All that grease in you hair must have polluted your blood sometime or another, so that makes you just as pathetic and filthy as us doesn't it?" Hal said coolly.

"You've got a lot of nerve, Potter!" Malfoy jeered back, getting a little hot under the collar.

"How great of you to notice. I always knew you looked up to me." Hal said, twirling his knife between his fingers. It took all Harry had to keep from laughing.

Malfoy glared at Hal then at all the others and it looked like he was just going to walk off, but he didn't. Harry glanced back at Malfoy and saw his hand reach for his wand. Just as Malfoy pulled out his wand, Harry turned around and glared back at Draco. He kept his voice down and stayed seated because he didn't want to draw any more attention.

"Can't someone joke around without you pulling your wand on them?" Harry whispered in the harshest voice he had. Malfoy jumped back and nearly ran into a first year. He had the most astonished look on his face, nearly speechless. He just stood there, taking in that one of his worst nightmares had come true.

"Bloody hell, there's two of them." Malfoy sighed, that was all he could get out. He quickly straightened up and walked swiftly out of the Great Hall. Everyone who heard the spat rolled with laughter the second Malfoy was out of earshot.

"Wow, I've never seen Malfoy so shocked! Well, except when Hermione punched his light's out that time." Ron said, looking at Hermione, smiling.

"Oh hush, Ronald." Hermione said, blushing violently.

Everyone had pretty much finished eating and the hum of conversation was at an all time high. Students were walking around to other tables, greeting everyone. Fred and George were talking about how their new products were coming along and Ron and Hal were pretty much oblivious to anything else but what the twins were talking about. Harry acted like he heard what they were saying, but he was really trying to get a better look at someone at another table. It was the girl from the lake. If it was the person he thought it was, they had definitely changed. He shifted a little and confirmed his thoughts. It was her. Wow, she looked different. Just as he was nearly entranced, he heard Dumbledore asking for silence.

"In light of the new term, I have decided to start the year off a little differently. For the next three days, we are going to be having a little quidditch tournament. Many of the past and present quidditch captains have commented on the difficulties of choosing a team after just one tryout. The tournament is give to the quidditch captains and co-captains a better look at the players before having to make their final decisions. All those who want to participate, Practice will be held in the morning, and tryouts will be held tomorrow evening. The results of the tryouts will be posted late that same night and teams will be able to practice the next day. The tournament will be the following day. These aren't actual tryouts, so don't be discouraged it you don't make the tournament team. Regular season tryouts will be held some time in the next two weeks. That's all, and you are dismissed." Dumbledore said.

People said their goodnights to their friends in other houses and making their way to the big double doors. It was hard to keeps the whole Weasley, Harry and Hermione group together with masses of students rushing around, but somehow they all managed. Harry and Hal now felt all the staring eyes burning holes into them from all directions. Now that everyone could see both of their faces together, everyone was looking. Even though they couldn't hear them over the loud roar of conversation of the crowd, they knew what the on lookers were talking about. For some odd reason, Harry looked more disturbed by the staring than Hal did, not that it really bothered Harry, but Hal seemed positively optimistic. He must have come to the terms with the fact that the starring was going to happen and he needed to make the best of it. He just kept facing straight forward and listening to Ron talking about quidditch. He acted like he was completely oblivious to all the curious eyes peering towards him. Harry decided to take on that attitude and he started talking to Hermione about her rest of the summer, seeing as he had to go home for a few weeks then she came back the night she met Hal. The whispering finally started to get on Harry's nerves and he started to walk a little faster. Hal did as well and soon everyone caught the drift.

It was getting old, hearing all the "Whoa look at Potter's clone!" and "Did you see them?" They finally reached the common room, but that wasn't even an escape from all the talking. They did hear a little bit of good feedback from some of the girls though. "There's two of them now? Gosh, that's good!" and "I wonder what the new one's name is," Hal heard a few girls whisper when they passed where he was sitting in the common room.

"It's Hal." said Hal, coolly, looking up at them from his chair. One of the girls turned around and smiled.

"Well, see your around, Hal." the girl said smoothly, and turned back to catch up with her friends. Ron was a little stunned at how easy Hal made talking to those girls look. Hal turned his face back to Ron and just smiled. He had to admit that he was a little surprised himself, he never really got the chance to talk to anyone his age when he was at his uncle's house. Harry knew now that Hal wasn't going to have any trouble adjusting to the new atmosphere.

Hermione was acting a little strange though. For some reason, she looked to be reading a ginormous textbook, but the book didn't look as if she had turned any pages since she had gotten to the common room. Harry noticed and walked over to where she was sitting and sat down in the chair beside her. Hermione didn't even seem to notice that he was there. Harry strained his neck to see what she was actually reading. It looked like to be some kind of magazine, like the ones he and Ron had bought in the quidditch shop, but she couldn't be reading a quidditch magazine. She never had seemed to be interested in quidditch, but Hermione was kind of unpredictable.

"Whatcha reading?" Harry asked. Hermione looked up quickly, and shut the book, but you could see the crease in the pages where something else was stuffed inside.

"Oh, just _Hogwarts, a History_ again. Every time I read it, I always find something I've overlooked." Hermione said quickly and stuffed the book into her school bag. "How's Hal doing?" Hermione added, obviously trying to change the subject.

"He seems pretty good. He surprised me on how calm he was when we were walking back from the feast. He's pretty cool, even though we are total opposites. He's so laid back and calm about everything. I'm not anything like that." Harry said, laughing a little. Hermione smiled, then sighed. She seemed like she was depressed. Harry was getting a little worried." How are you? You seem a little troubled about something."

"Oh, I'm ok. I just have a lot on my mind, like usual. I'm totally ok. Hey, I knew that Angelina got captain of the quidditch team, but I didn't know that she picked you as co-captain." Hermione said, smiling, again trying to veer off the subject.

"Oh yeah. I just found that out today. I was pretty excited about the tournament. Something to look forward to. Tryouts should be a lot easier since we know ahead of time what the talent is. If Hal doesn't try out, our team is going to be missing out a lot, but I'm pretty sure he'll be trying out." Harry said, glancing at Hal, but looked back at Hermione.

"Well, that sounds great! I hate to just leave you here, but I'm really exhausted. I'll see you in the morning at the pitch. I'll be watching." Hermione said, still the look of uneasiness dwelling in her eyes. Harry tried to put it out of his mind. He walked over to where Ron, Fred, George, and Hal were sitting. They seemed to be having a good time, maybe they would help him stop worrying about Hermione.

They were of talking about quidditch, of course, and Hal was asking about some of the girls that had talked to him that night. Harry started to forget the worry and started thinking about the one he saw earlier before Dumbledore's speech. Hal was asking the others what the other girls in the room name's were. Harry couldn't help but laugh at the way Hal was acting.

"What's so funny, over there?" George asked.

"Oh, nothing. It's just I thought it was pretty funny that Hal's already checked out every girl in the room." Harry said, smiling.

"Oh, come on Harry. You're not much better. I saw how you were checking out Cho Chang tonight at the feast." Fred said with that usual smirk.

"Oh, well I didn't think anybody noticed." Harry said, going along with what Fred said. He was actually looking past Cho, but he let them think what they wanted to think.

Harry got up early the next morning, anxious about the quidditch tryouts. Even though this tournament was just for fun, it still made him a little nervous. The only thing that made him nervous right now was the thoughts of the girl he saw last night. Every time he thought about her, his heart leaped. He tried his best not to, but he couldn't stop thinking about her. He thought he was acting ridiculous, why was he acting like this about a girl he had only seldom talked to?

Harry went down to the common room and sat in front of the fire for a bit. It was kind of chilly in the room, but it looked to be perfect quidditch weather outside. There were lots of people hurrying about the common room, chatting about the tournament. By what Harry could hear, there were going to be quite a few people trying out. Ginny, Ron, Fred and George were already suited up and they were about to head down to the pitch when they heard someone calling for Ginny.

"Ginny, would you come up here for a moment, please?" a voice called from the girls dormitories. By Ron's delightful expression on his face, everyone knew it was Hermione's voice. Ginny grinned widely as if she already knew why she was going up there. She looked at Hal and smirked. He smiled back at her. He must have been in on what ever was going on as well. Harry was curious about what was going on, but his thoughts went quickly back to the subject that had been on his mind for the last 8 hours or so. He finally put those thoughts in the back of his mind when he grabbed his quidditch stuff and he started walking to the pitch. Soon, he and Hal were greeted by some of their other friends and then by a new view of the pitch. The field had been magically enlarged to where each house had their own full sized pitch. There were loads of people waiting for the tryouts to start. Harry met up with Angelina and surveyed the crowd. Since the Captain and Co-Captain were automatically on the team, the normal faces they had seen over the years trying out for seeker were either not there or going to try out for something else. Harry didn't know how he and Angelina were going to choose 5 people out of this crowd. This was going to be difficult.

They decided to start with the beaters since it was probably going to be very easy to choose. Most of the people that were attempting to tryout were just there to pass the time, so Fred and George would most likely be getting their positions back.

The keeper tryouts were a little more difficult. This was the only tryout that everyone knew the results of before they posted them on the bulletin board, but they were the most tiring, throwing all those passes. There were about 12 people going out for the position and about 4 were really good. Harry had almost thrown his arm out when by the time they had narrowed it down to 2 people who were tied with the same amount of saves: Hal and Dean Thomas. Hal was completely calm, just like he was the night before. Dean was a totally different story. He all the sudden acted as if his next move would be his last. He was so nervous that it took him a good minute to fly into position for the tie breaker tryout. Dean managed to block Harry's first pass, which is always the easiest. He also got the next 2, but when it came to the last 2, he totally spazed out. He even went in the wrong direction on the last pass. Harry knew that Hal was going to be able to handle this, he had already proved that when Harry first met him. And Sure enough, Hal blocked every pass. Hal tried to hide his excitement, but he smiled throughout the rest of the tryout.

Chasers were next. Harry divided all 18 tryoutees into groups of 3 by numbering everyone either a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or a 6. He made everyone turn around and put their hoods on so he wouldn't know who they were, that way he wouldn't be accused of any way of rigging the tryouts.

After everyone had been separated into groups, the tryouts began. They took two groups at a time, and each one played both offense and defense. They were all decent but there were only about 3 that really stood out to Angelina and Harry: Ron, Ginny, and someone who they could not recognize because whoever it was made sure their hood didn't come off while they were flying. Angelina called the 3 finalists over to her and told the others that they weren't going to be selected. They all were pretty disappointed, but knew that the 3 did really beat them out. They really did perform great. Harry wondered who the hooded person was, but the person made sure that he didn't did their face.

Harry decided to have an individual tryout for the chasers. Fred, George and Hal volunteered to be obstacles for the 3 finalists. Ron was up first. Harry had Fred be Ron's obstacle because he thought that Fred would really challenge him because they picked on him so much. Ron did really good, just like he had done earlier. Ginny put a little extra flair in her tryouts by making unnecessary but awesome dives for the quaffle a few times. Harry was right to make Hal her obstacle because they seemed to have something going on earlier in the common room. He figured if she stayed focused on quidditch instead of Hal during the tryout, then she would do very well. She seemed happy with her tryout and with her obstacle. Then, it was the mystery person's turn. Harry passed the quaffle into play and George was sure he was going to get the quaffle first, but out of nowhere, the mystery person zoomed right past George in a blur, taking the quaffle with them . Whoever it was passed it back to Harry, and Harry tossed it again, totally out of reach for them to reach. George was determined to get the quaffle now as it plummeted to the ground, but again he was surprised to see the mystery person make one of the most amazing dives Harry had ever seen at Hogwarts. It was almost at professional level. Ginny and Hal were grinning widely as they watched in awe. Harry noticed them watching. They knew who that person was. He made sure Angelina was paying attention to the tryout going on before he walked over to where Hal and Ginny were sitting.

"Who is that? That person is amazing. I know you two know who it is." Harry asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

"Oh, you will find out soon enough." Ginny replied. "Look, here they come now."

Harry turned to find a pretty irritated George, Angelina, Ron and the hooded person walking over to where they were standing. When they approached, Harry shook every tryoutee's hand and congratulated them for making it this far. But curiosity had finally gotten to Harry, He just had to ask. He directed his focus on the mystery person and finally asked.

"Might I ask you who you are?" Harry said.

The person sighed, knowing that there was no way out of this now. She finally removed the hood.

"I don't think I have to introduce myself." Hermione said, shaking her hair back into place.

Ron nearly fainted and the twins were even shocked. No one would have ever thought that Hermione would ever have that much skill and precision in quidditch, or any other sport for that matter. Harry was absolutely stunned, but this put him in the worst position ever. He and Angelina were going to have to cut someone, and everyone trying out was one of his best friends.

"Hermione, how did you get so good?" Angelina asked.

"Well, I've practiced every summer since I've been coming here. I finally got up the nerve to tryout this year, so I did. I've kind of surprised myself." Hermione replied.

"Well, the results will be posted on the Bulletin board at 8:00 tonight. Me and Angelina have a meeting with Professor McGonagall to review the tryouts with her in 10 minutes. Good luck to all of you." Harry said quickly. He just wanted to get out of there and up to McGonagall's office as fast as possible.

It seemed like it took ages for the tryout results to appear on the bulletin board. Angelina had to push her way through a large crowd just to get to the bulletin board. Harry really didn't want to be around when everyone found out who got what, there was probably going to be a lot of shouting from some particular someone, so he decided that he would take a walk out side. Maybe it would give them time to cool off.

Angelina decided she would announce the results herself since Harry left. She knew why he didn't want to be there, but it wasn't his ultimate decision who would be on the team. It as hers and McGonagall's decision. She would have some explaining to do on Harry's behalf.

"The results will be read in tryout order, except for seeker, which is Harry Potter. The two beaters are Fred and George Weasley, big shocker there as well. The keeper taking for the exhibition match is Hal Potter. Congratulations to you, and the three chasers are myself, Ginny Weasley, and…."

Almost the whole room took a deep breath as Angelina read the next name of the list.

"…….Hermione Granger. If I called your name, make sure you are at our section of the quidditch pitch at 9:00 sharp tomorrow morning. Thank you"

Everyone went up to congratulate all the members of the quidditch team, especially Hermione. Everyone was surprised at her skill and were very happy for her. The only person who seemed not to be happy about anything: Ron. His face had turned the color of his hair, and he ran up to his dormitory before he took out his anger on someone. He only had one person to take out all the blame on. 'That's why he left before the results were read. He didn't want to face me himself.' Ron thought angrily. He knew where Harry was, outside at the lake. When Ron reached the dormitory, he headed straight for the window. Sure enough, there Harry was, lying under their usual tree, staring blankly ahead. Ron wrenched open the window and yelled loud enough where Harry could hear him, "Why couldn't you have been man enough of to tell me I wasn't good enough to make that stupid team yourself?" Ron shouted.

Harry looked up, but he didn't look surprised.

"Because I didn't feel like loosing my eardrums today, but If you'll was a second, I'll be right up there." Harry replied in a loud, yet calm tone. Harry wished he had thought about his "get-out-while-you-can" plan a little better. He knew this would make Ron even more mad…..

Ron fumed his rage a little while he waited on Harry to get back. He really wasn't mad about not making the team, but Harry running off and hiding like that just made it worse. He broke a few of the breakables in the room, but he made sure he repairo-ed them all back. He even punched the wall, but forgot that there were 2 by 4's behind the thin layer of sheet rock. He felt one of his knuckles crack, and he shouted in pain. He wished he hadn't because he heard a single pair of footsteps hurrying up the stairs. He knew it wasn't Harry, he wouldn't be running. It had to be Hermione. Ron tried to hide the pain, behind a really fake smile as she ran in.

"Ron, I heard you shout from downstairs, in fact everyone did. Are you alright?" Hermione asked, and she sat down beside him on his bed.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. Nothing to wor-rr-ry about." Ron said as a sharp pain shot through his hand. He had it hidden in his jacket pocket, but as a series of pain shot through it, he couldn't hide it anymore. He jumped up and held onto his hand as if he had broken every bone in it. Hermione had no idea what was going on until she get a glance at his hand.

"Ron! What did you do? Your whole hand had turned blue!! We have to get you to the hospital wing before it gets any worse." Hermione demanded as she grabbed his hand to drag him. She accidentally grabbed the wrong hand, and Ron jerked it back and made sure she grabbed the right hand next time.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Ron." Hermione said, trying not to laugh at Ron's horrified expression.

They headed down to the hospital wing as quickly as they could, and they passed Harry on the way.

"Hey, what happened?" Harry questioned, obviously confused.

"Oh, just come on." Ron said in a strained tone, but he did laugh at how stupid he had been. Why did he have to get so mad………


End file.
